Mooncalves and Moondew
by ninjadevil2000
Summary: Happy Back To Hogwarts Day! Neville is transplanting some adorable little Moondew plants but it's the full moon. What else is out at the full moon? Mooncalves. What happens when a hoof tramples Neville's hand? Well, I guess that calls for a trip to St. Mungo's.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Only JKR does and she's done some amazing things with it. Let's forget about Cursed Child, shall we?**

**Author's Note: Hey all! I hope you enjoy this! I love writing Neville so I enjoyed this a lot. Please review and let me know what you think. :) Love you guys. **

**Written for IWSC Summer Camp: Round 8**

**Theme: Write about someone being clumsy and ending up in St. Mungo's.**

**Word count: 2192**

**And a huge thank you to my best friend and beta: Liz Jean Tonks. She's amazing and writes great stories so go check her out. **

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Neville gently pulled. "C'mon, little guy," he cooed softly. "It's alright; I've got you." Then, with a gentle tug, the roots of the little Moondew plant came free of the soil.

Neville gently swung the plant around, placing it in a slightly larger pot of soil. He took some small handfuls of the dirt, surrounding the little plant with it, humming all the while.

Then, when the plant was partially submerged, its leaves glistening silver in the light of the full moon, Neville moved on to another little Moondew in need of transport. He glanced down at his watch as he caressed the plant's base. It was nearing two o'clock in the morning, but he didn't mind the late hour. In fact, he quite enjoyed being awake at this time, even though he knew it would make him exhausted tomorrow. He knew he had to transplant them now as the Moondew plants were hardiest on nights with a full moon and therefore less susceptible to injury.

The night was dark and calm, only the light of the moon and a few nearby lamps shining around the greenhouse. The air was quiet except for the occasional hoot of an owl or call of some other creature.

As Neville continued transplanting the little Moondew plants, he sunk into his own thoughts. Neville had been a trainee under Professor Sprout for a few years now, but this would be the last year he would be working with her. Then, the longtime Herbology teacher would retire and he would be teaching on his own. He was nervous to say the least, but also incredibly excited. This year, he devoted even more of his time and effort into learning everything possible from Professor Sprout, knowing that he wouldn't just be an assistant anymore.

Taking a small pause from the transplanting, Neville stretched his hands and arms behind him and started to walk around a bit, stretching his legs as well. He sighed as he looked back behind him. Only seven plants left to transport then he would be able to return to the castle and get a few hours of sleep before the next day began.

He returned back to the work station and was about to pick up another plant when he realized something.

The door was rattling. As though something were on the other side banging against it. Neville cursed himself for having been so stupid as to have left the door unlocked. Yes, he had shut it, but it wasn't locked, meaning that anyone or anything could get in.

Withdrawing his wand from his robe pocket, Neville raised it and pointed it at the door.

Then, with a sudden crash that took Neville by surprise, the door fell to the ground, suddenly trampled by many hooves. Neville stepped back and saw what they were. Mooncalves. Hagrid had been raising them over the past few months for his fifth year Care of Magical Creatures class. They were small black creatures, with small spindly legs, sleek back coats, and huge bluish green eyes.

He didn't want to hurt the creatures but he had to do something, so Neville pointed his wand toward a nearby window and yelled,_ "Periculum!"_

The yell phased the Mooncalves but only for a moment before they broke into an unexplainable run.

But the Mooncalves didn't run for him; they ran for the Moondew, bowling him over as they did so. And suddenly, everything fell into place. Mooncalves only left their burrow at the full moon; the full moon was when the Moondew was strongest. They must be connected somehow. Perhaps the Mooncalves eat the Moondew since they're both connected by the same activity time. Neville, sprawled on his back, felt the feet on his face and arms and he thought he heard a crack as a particularly heavy hoof landed on his hand. He let out a cry of pain, all the while struggling to move the two dozen Mooncalves out of the way. He heard the crunching of plants and branches, the chewing as they were eaten, and he knew he had to do something.

Struggling to get free of the rampage, he pushed himself up, holding his wand in his uninjured hand. He hoped someone had seen the red sparks he had shot out the window.

The Mooncalves were completely ignoring him, only plunging their faces deep into the mass of Moondew plants that Neville had just finished transplanting.

He raised his wand again and with a wince, he aimed a Stunning spell at one of the Mooncalves. He didn't put much force in the words, hoping it might not be too hard on the animal. However, it had absolutely not effect at all and the spell ricocheted off and bounced to the ceiling.

Neville frowned and tried again, this time putting more effort into the spell. It simply bounced off the creature's back again though, now springing towards Neville. He ducked.

Then, as he aimed his wand at them once more, wondering what other spell could affect the creatures, loud footsteps were heard thundering outside.

"What's going on in here?" Hagrid asked, coming into view while holding a large lamp.

The Mooncalves all looked up as one as their master entered the greenhouse. "Neville, 's that you?" Hagrid asked, holding up the lamp so the light would shine farther.

"Hagrid!" Neville shouted in relief. The Mooncalves returned to eating, although now it looked as if there wasn't much left to eat. "Hagrid, your Mooncalves here have completely eaten down an entire group of Moondew!" Neville shouted, unable to hide his frustration.

Hagrid either didn't hear him or ignored him as he moved towards the herd of Mooncalves. He started clapping his hands loudly and the Mooncalves, to Neville's bewilderment, started to shudder.

"They can't stand loud noises," Hagrid said to Neville, continuing to clap his hands. Neville pursed his lips in understanding and so started to clap his own hands, stowing his wand back in his pocket for safekeeping. After several minutes of loud clapping and herding, Hagrid was able to shuffle them out of the door and back to their burrow in the pumpkin patch. Neville scratched the back of his head. That was something he didn't feel the need to relive any time soon.

As he made his way back to the greenhouse, he looked at around in disappointment. Pots and soil was strewn everywhere; none of the Moondew remained except a few leaves here and there, and the floor was littered with Mooncalf dung. Not the most pleasant thing to see at nearly three o'clock in the morning.

Just then, Professor Sprout came hurrying into the greenhouse. "What on earth happened here?" she gasped.

"You missed the excitement," Neville said.

"I can see that," Professor Sprout said, eyeing the destruction of her greenhouse.

Neville proceeded to explain what had happened with the Moondew and the Mooncalves. "I'm sorry, Professor, it's my fault," he continued. "I was stupid and I didn't lock the door."

"Oh, dear boy," Professor Sprout said gently. "You weren't to know. I should've told you that Moondew lures Mooncalves." She patted his hand but it was the injured one. What with the adrenaline rush and panic of what had just happened, the pain in his hand had seemed to fade, but now as he thought about it, the pain returned in full force.

"Are you alright, Neville?" Professor Sprout asked, noticing the wince.

"One of the Mooncalves stepped on my hand. I think something might be broken," Neville said, brushing it aside as he waved his wand, gathering up the strewn pots and planters.

"Well, you need to have that fixed right away, Neville," Professor Sprout said, shooing him away. "Go, go, I can clean this up."

"You sure?" Neville said, still feeling immensely guilty over what had happened. He knew Moondew was rare, and he had just let an enormous quality get eaten by some rampaging Mooncalves.

"Yes, yes, now go," Professor Sprout insisted. "You need to get that hand checked out."

"Alright," Neville said. He made to move off towards the castle but Professor Sprout stopped him.

"Remember, Neville, Poppy isn't here right now. She went to visit her sister."

"Oh, that's right," Neville said. "Uh, should I just wait till tomorrow then?"

"Oh, no," the Herbology professor said quickly. "You just go off the emergency room at St. Mungo's. They'll get you patched up in no time."

Neville nodded. Moving off towards the castle again, he trudged up a few staircases, cradling his hand and the pain ebbed and throbbed at the same time. Finally, reaching the small office he occupied, he grabbed a handful of floo powder from the nearby fireplace and threw it in the fire, yelling, "St. Mungo's lobby!"

A moment later, he was stepping out into a lightly lit corridor, with only one nurse sitting behind a nearby desk.

He wandered over. "Hi, I seem to have broken a couple fingers while – erm – dealing with some creatures," he said.

The receptionist looked up, obviously bored out of her mind. "Just wait over there," she said lazily, pointing over at some nearby chairs. "Someone will be with you shortly."

Neville nodded. Luckily, the late hour caused the hospital to not be very busy as a nurse came and took Neville to a room fairly quickly. After asking his name, age, and other things, she smiled and left him alone, letting him know a healer would be with him shortly.

Neville only had to wait a minute before the door opened again and the healer walked in. And, even after not having seen her for at least two years, Neville recognized her. "Hannah?"

"Neville!" Hannah said, grinning. "It's so good to see you."

"You too," Neville said. "I don't think I've seen you since our last year at Hogwarts."

Hannah nodded. "How've you been?" she asked, coming forward and holding her hands out to examine Neville's injury.

Neville placed his hand in hers, surprised by the small shiver he felt run up his spine as she started to touch his hand and move the fingers. He brushed it aside as he spoke. "I've been alright," he said. "I've been living at Hogwarts actually. I've been working under Professor Sprout for the last couple years, training up to be a certified Herbology teacher."

"That's amazing," Hannah said, smiling. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah, I love it," Neville replied. "It's something I've wanted for a while and next year will be the first year I teach without Professor Sprout. It'll be interesting," he finished. "But what about you? You're a healer now? I thought you always had the ambition to be a Ministry official."

"I did for a while," Hannah replied, setting Neville's hand down and writing something down on a clipboard. "But after the war and everything I realized that I wanted something more –" she paused, looking for the right word – "real, if that makes sense," she finished.

"It does," Neville replied with a nod.

Hannah smiled. "Alright, well, tell me what happened with your hand then."

Neville grinned and shook his head. "It's a crazy story." After recounting the tale of the Mooncalves and Moondew, Neville was smiling at the look of incredulity and bewilderment on Hannah's face.

"Well, I must say," she said after Neville had finished. "That's got to be one of the most interesting stories I've heard in a while."

They both laughed. "Well, here." She held out her hand for Neville's again and pointer her wand at it. After muttering a few spells, Neville heard a small pop and felt a small wave of pain before his hand started to feel better.

"There now," she said. "You should be good as new within just a couple days," she continued, walking over and pulling something out of a nearby cabinet. "But I want you to wear this for about a week." She handed him a small cast that would wrap around his hand. "It'll keep the fingers immobile and will help them completely heal and get strong once again," she said.

Neville took it with a smile. "Thanks a lot," he said.

"You're welcome," Hannah replied. "It was nice to have a pleasant patient for a change. Working this late, I don't usually get many kind patients. They're mostly people who have had too much Firewhiskey or are grouchy because it's past their bedtime."

The two laughed again.

Neville swallowed as he stood up. "Listen, uh, would you ever want to get a butterbeer or something maybe?" he asked hesitantly, his voice softening with nervousness.

Hannah smiled broadly. "I'd like that a lot," she replied. "Want to meet over the weekend? Say, Saturday around lunchtime?"

"Sounds great," Neville replied. "Three Broomsticks?"

Hannah nodded. "I'll see you then then," she said, before laughing at how her sentence sounded.

She opened the room's door, allowing Neville to walk past her and back to the waiting room and the fireplace.

"Bye," Neville said with a small wave.

"Bye," Hannah replied.

Neville then flooed back to his Hogwarts office, and he found himself very much looking forward to Saturday.


End file.
